It's Not Always About the Drugs
by AnEndlessWhisper
Summary: Brian is taken. His NZT pill has worn off. He's alone, and the FBI are watching. Find out what happens next in this short take of a normal Brian, whumpage, and some people you've never even heard of before. Rated M because I'm paranoid. Slash if you squint, but not really.


Chapter 1: Confusion

Blinding light suddenly shown in his eyes as someone turned on a flashlight in his face. His head pulled up hard hurting his sore neck. His eyes crammed shut to let in as minimal lights as possible. They were used to the darkness he had succumbed to. He slowly opened his eyes, not knowing where he was nor what was going on. He tried to rub his daunting eyes from the sleep, but he couldn't move them. In fact, the only thing he could move was his head. His hands were chained above his head and his feet couldn't touch the ground no matter how hard he stretched them. His guess was that he was at least 5 inches off the ground based on his body height and the stretching reach of his toes. His last NZT pill was just starting to wear off. Great. This was probably the worst possible time for that, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He opened his eyes to their full extent and saw two men before him, one holding the flashlight that had woken him from his unwanted yet peaceful slumber. He found himself in a small room with blank walls and floors. There was a door to his left and a chair in the corner to the right of it. He also noticed he was shirtless. Usually the ones who take off his shirts are female, but this time wasn't like that. Except for the one time he tried something new involving a few belts, his bed frame, and the lack of use of his limbs, but this wasn't giving him the same kind of chills down his spine. No, these were chills of worry, confusion, and a lot of fear.

"Good morning, Sunshine. I'm surprised it took you this long to wake up when that fancy drug of yours seems to make everything else faster." The deep British voice sounded soothing despite the situation he was in. It wasn't like he was being yelled at or mocked, no, this man was calm and almost gentle. "My names Alex and we'll be your captors this evening. This here's my partner, Jack." He said pointing to the man sitting in a chair in the corner quietly reading a book. "Is there anything we can get you before things get, well, bad between us." He had a slight smirk on his face if as though he couldn't wait for something. His voice suddenly sounded less calming and more... well... threatening.

"What the hell do you want?" Brain asked snapping at them a little bit. It takes a lot to get him angry, but he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of hearing the rage in his voice. All he wanted to know was how he got there and why this was happening. "If it's NZT you're after I can tell you right off the bat I don't have any." He put his head back down to relieve the ache he was getting. He closed his eyes hoping he could get a bit more rest before, as Alex put it, things get bad between them.

"Nonsense, Brian. We don't want that miracle pill. We know all about the nasty side effects. You see, my friend here wants information, but I, on the other hand, want something a little more physical." He chuckled as the words rolled off his tongue.

"Dude, I don't roll that way." Brian couldn't believe he just called his captor 'dude'.

"You seem to misunderstand. I don't play nice with people who have done me wrong, and whether or not you know it, or even intended it for that matter, you've done me more wrong than anyone I've ever come across and I have come across many people who do so." Shit. How many times had he done this? These guys are clearly not new to this and that meant they would be harder to trick, harder to find, and they would probably lack the moral standards of modern society.

"Yeah? And how's that?" Brian asked unable to relift his head. The longer he kept them talking the more time he bought to delay the inevitable.

Alex retaliated with a harsh uppercut. Brian's jaw felt like it had been hit with a baseball bat. "You imprisoned my brother Tommy. He was a good kid! And you sent him to jail for swindling money from millionaires! Like they couldn't survive with a few less digits? And you know what happened next? A prison riot broke out and he was murdered right then and there like an innocent bystander! He was beaten to death because you felt the rich people that make life miserable for others were more deserving of some slack than someone who was just trying to even the odds!" He finished his sentence with a firm front kick to the gut. Brian swung back unable to catch his breath as he swayed closer and further from them. It took a while before he could inhale and when he did, it wasn't pleasant. Alex composed himself with a deep breath to calm his nerves then continued. "Now, my colleague here has a similar story. His former partner was killed by the drug lord you and your team have been failing to track for the past few months and he wants revenge as well. So, it is in your best interest that you tell us what we want to know so I can keep my revenge to a minimum." He clapped his hands together in the praying position and pointed them at Brian.

"I can't just give you Intel from the FBI. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's treason." Brian replied, his gut still hurting with every word. "And tell me this... Why doesn't your little friend over there talk. Is he shy?" Brian asked talking to him like one would to a baby. Jack quickly looked up with his eyes but kept his head toward the book and continued to read.

Alex laughed. "That was the wrong answer." His smile faded as soon as the words came out. He turned around and grabbed something from a table behind him that Brian hadn't noticed until now. Alex spun back around quickly with a whip in hand lashing Brian across the chest. Brian let out a tight wail as he clamped his jaw shut from the stinging pain he now felt. This was only the beginning.

Chapter 2: Ignorance

Brian felt every single second of every single lash that swept his body. Alex had taken the pleasure of not just staying in front of Brian, but also moving around him for a 360 degree slice up. As he dangled thee helpless he tried to reason with his captors even though a part of him knew it was useless. "I didn't know about your brother and I was only doing my job." He said in between each lashing. "I'm not even a real FBI agent; I'm just a consultant. The only reason I'm of any use to them is because of NZT!"

Another lash hit him in the small of his back causing him to jolt his head upward once again. He had counted 17 lashes before he lost track. The next one came a bit harder than the others and right in the soft spot of his rib cage. Alex must've gotten a running start because this one took the cake. Brian could feel the blood dripping down his upper body and soaking into his jeans. He remembered putting them on this morning, or yesterday morning he guestimated, but he had no clue of telling what time it was. Not a single clock, window, or skylight was around. He still couldn't remember how he got here, though. As he tried to think of the events prior another lash hit him on the left side of his upper chest and bit onto his neck and shoulder. His jaw tightened with every one and he could feel it starting to ache, but that was nothing compared to the stinging of the whip.

"Have you decided to tell us anything?" Alex asked, sounding out of breath. Brian remained silent and leaned his head on his left arm. He closed his eyes gently and anticipated another lash, but it never came. He opened his eyes to find Alex putting the whip away. "Well then, if you're still awake then that means you're up for more I suppose." He grabbed a large blade from its sheath and turned back around to face Brian, but paused for a moment. "Are you absolutely sure you don't want to tell us and get it over with." Brian once again remained silent. He knew that if he told them, the torture would stop, but a part of him knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he got someone killed, even if it is a fugitive drug lord. "Fine then." Alex said sternly with an excited look in his eye. And with that he walked toward Brian.

Chapter 3: Transgression

With every single slice Alex made to him, the more Brian wanted to just tell them what he knew about the drug lord. But he didn't. He hung there and did his best not to scream as Alex caressed the knife along his arms, legs, and already sliced up torso. Brian felt like he had just gotten out of the shower. Blood was all over him excluding his face, but he felt as though that was reserved for a special part of this evening. After what felt like ages, Alex stopped and said to a weak and dozing Brian, "Well, if your suffering won't get me any answers, we might have to result to harsher methods." He looked at Jack and inturn Jack got up and left the room.

A few moments later, Jack returned with a camera on a tripod with various cords leading out of the room. Brian didn't like where this was going. He set up the camera far enough away from Brian so as to get his whole body in its shot and turned it on. "My friend here is excellent with technology. Did I forget to mention that?" He asked with a small chuckle and a creepy smile on his face. "That camera is now broadcasting a nice picture of you to the FBI servers. I'm sure your team has been looking for you for at least a day now, but they should know that they will not find you. Say hello." He commanded. Brian looked into the lens of the camera, but the blood loss was starting to get to him and it was hard to keep his head up. "Oh, buddy we picked a good time for this." He said once again talking to Jack. "It's time for your friends to place wagers. Will Brian die of blood loss, or do I know what I'm doing - enough so that I know the limits of the human body? Start your engines boys because the bets are rolling in!" He gave out a cackle and looked at the camera with those last few words. Brian was starting to drift as the amount of blood in him dropped at a rapid rate.

Brian mumbled something incoherent causing Alex to move closer. His words were still unrecognizable causing Alex to lean in right next to Brian's mouth. "Bite me." Brian said as he lunged his jaw forward and bit Alex's ear. He bit down as hard as he could and Alex suddenly yanked away from him successfully detaching the part of his ear that was in Brian's mouth. Brian spit out the chunk of flesh as Alex screamed and held his bleeding ear. He lunged toward Brian and with as much momentum as he could he thrust his fist into Brian's face hitting his nose. And with that, Brian was out cold.

Chapter 4: Dishonesty

Brian flickered his eyes open, but his mind hadn't fully come out of unconsciousness yet. As he woke up fully, he felt weak and nearly every inch of his body ached. It took all of his strength to lift his head and look around. No one was in the room. He looked at the camera and saw the a light on it flashing. That meant it was on, but he had no idea of determining if it was still streaming him to his team or not. He only hoped it was. He looked into the lens ready to speak, but he couldn't muster out a single word. In his head he was telling them everything he knew about the two men and where he might have been, but nothing would come out. His lips wouldn't move. Why wouldn't they move?

After a few moments passed he managed to let out a faint name: "Alex". He said it again only this time he was able to speak louder. He followed with "Jack", still not able to do any more than a word at a time. "Boston." He muttered hoping they would connect the dots. As he opened his mouth to give another clue the door opened and in walked Jack and Alex.

"What are you doing?!" Alex said in shock. He had figured out Brian was attempting to communicate with his team. But luckily for Brian this meant three things: that it was, in fact, streaming to his team, that he may have given them enough to find him knowing how clever Rebecca is, and that they underestimated Brian thinking he wouldn't be awake so soon, which may throw them off their guard. "You sly dog. Well, whatever you told them won't be enough to find you let alone save you." Alex said regaining his mojo. "But, I'm afraid I haven't been fully honest with you. The names we gave you were not our real names. It seems our mistrust for you has played out in our favor." Damn. This meant Brian had given his team practically nothing to go on other than the name of a highly populated town. He wanted to scream in frustration, but he still didn't have the strength.

"Are you ready to tell us anything in particular?" Brian remembered he had bitten off a portion of his ear as he noticed the bandages that encased what was left of it. This made Brian smile and gave him a bit more energy.

"The only thing I have to say to you is that I'm sure you look funny with a part of your ear missing." He chuckled at the thought. He could see the anger light up in Alex's eyes, but yet he did nothing. He didn't grab a new toy from his table of fun, he didn't lunge at him, nor did he even clench his fist at his side. He simply stood there. The three of them shared a brief moment of silence before Alex once more went over to his toys. Brian couldn't see what he was grabbing, but he knew it wouldn't be good. He could see Alex and Jack, or whatever their names are, exchange a brief glance before they both walked over to Brian.

Alex kept whatever he was holding behind his back and said, "This is for being such a big-mouthed smart-ass!" At that moment Jack grabbed Brian by the jaw and opened his mouth. Brian was helpless to close it without the strength to do so. Alex pulled a pair of players out from behind his back and stuck it in Brian's mouth. He gripped onto one of his back molars and with two hands yanked as hard as he could. Brian heard a crack and felt a sharp pain escape his mouth as his tooth was dislodged from his jaw. Blood gushed, filling Brian's mouth and dripping down all over his already bloodied chest and the floor below.

The extreme pain in his jaw jolted his memory of how he got there. Brian remembers leaving the FBI building and heading down east 32nd street to go to his favorite restaurant. He was craving pizza. Alex and Jack sped up to brain in their car, stopping next to him. Jack got out of the car and, before Brian could even process what was happening, clocked him in the jaw effectively knocking him out in one hit. From there he assumed they put him in his car and brought him here. From this, Brian guessed it was around noon depending on how long he had been unconscious both times. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he's supposed to meet up with his family for dinner what he presumes is today. If he doesn't get out of here by then, they'll know something's up, but there was nothing Brian could do. He had no idea how to get out of the chains that held him off the ground let alone out of the building he was in with two people bigger and in better health than he. It was up to his team to save him, but they had nothing to go on. Brian knew then and there that he most likely would not make it out of there alive.

In a last ditch effort to reason with his captors Brian said, "You do know who my team is, right? Because not only are they the best of the best in the FBI, but I am probably the most valuable person to the country at the moment, so what makes you think that they don't have the entire FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. looking for me at the moment? I hope you thought this through." With every word his jaw hurt even more and more, but he didn't care anymore. He just wanted to buy enough time for someone to find him. He had faith in his team and figured they somehow have a way to track him at any given time whether or not he had his phone.

"Well Mr. Finch, I, too, am the best of the best, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but you will not be found unless your dead in a ditch." Alex's grimace grew with each word he spoke. "Now let's get back to it, shall we?" He grabbed some wires that were attached to a large car battery and touched their exposed ends together creating a small, but threatening spark.

Chapter 5: Momentum

Searing hot pain. Muscles tensing. Throat sore. All of these things were on Brian's mind, but for some reason they weren't the most prominent thought. No. He was thinking about something else. Not his friends. Not his family. Not his coworkers. Not Rebecca. No. No. No. He was thinking about rain. He was imagining driving alone in a car. Not a car he was familiar with. Not an expensive sports car. But rather an old, beaten-down Chevy. He didn't know why, but he also didn't care. Driving, driving, driving down an empty highway. The city was full of life below him, but the highway was his. He felt peaceful. He felt relaxed. He felt... happy. Why did he feel happy. Ahead of him was a small street light that was brighter than anything he could've imagined. He drew closer. And closer. No. Not a street lamp. What was it? What was it? No. Not this. He knew what this was.

This was it. The light. THE light. The light at the end of the tunnel of life. He knew it, too. He could feel it eminating a warm, and blissful sensation upon his face. He drew closer, still. He didn't want to go. He was too young. Too happy. Too... injured. He knew this was the only way to stop the pain. But he also knew this meant forever. So why was he still driving? Why didn't he slam the brakes? He felt calm. He knew he didn't want to go, but something was telling him, pulling him, dragging him to go. He could have fought. He could have pulled the E-brake. He could have gotten out and walked the other way, but no. He didn't. Why didn't he?

He drew closer, still. The light grew bigger. The light grew brighter. The light grew warmer. He could feel it almost upon him. He could feel the end and it was alluring. Why did he keep going? Why?

The light grew too bright for his eyes. He shut them as he continued to drive. He sped up. Oh god, why did he speed up?! It was here. This was it. This was the end. And it was beautiful.

Brain Finch never looked back.

Chapter 6: Defeat

Cold. Dark. Pain. His senses were coming back to him. Why could he breath? Why could he feel the pain that was blissfully taken from him? Why was he laying on his back?

Brian was fully awaken by a few light slaps to the face. He opened his eyes as much as he could and could make out a figure standing above him. Who was it? He could hear a voice calling his name. But not his first name, no. "Mr. Finch, can you hear me?" Brian nodded not knowing who he was talking to. Was it Rebecca? No it was a man's voice. A paramedic? No, this hand was ungloved. Who, then, who?

"Oh no." Brian thought. He felt his eyesight coming back fully. He could see the figure before him. "No. No. NO." his head screamed at him. The man before him... was Alex. No.

"There you go, Mr. Finch. Welcome back to the world of the living." His voice sounded calm, like he wasn't worried about Brian dying. Not because he didn't care if he killed this man, but because he knew he could bring him back to life. "I hope you didn't think you could escape by dying on me. I told you, I know what I'm doing." With that he walked out of the room followed by Jack, leaving Brian on the cold floor bleeding and half dead. Brian turned his head to look at the camera. To his dismay, he could still see the flashing green light that indicated it was on. Shit. Brian turned his head back to the ceiling and closed his eyes if to only drift away once more for a short while.

Chapter 7: Honesty

Brian's unconscious comfort was short lived when the two men walked back into the room. They seemed hurried as though they were running from something. Brian soon understood why when they quickly packed up their gear, including the camera, and left the room once more. Too weak to move, Brian simply lay there hoping they'd forget about him and leave him there to either die or be rescued.

His hopes were apparently far fetched when they returned once more and walked over to him. Alex grabbed him from under the shoulders while Jack grabbed his legs. They lifted him off the ground harshly reopening many of his wounds in the process. Brian, though, was too weak and his throat was too bare to even attempt to make a sound.

They carried him down several hallways, but stopped before reaching whatever they were looking for. "Shit!" Alex said in a hushed yell. That's when Brian heard it. That's when he realized what was going on. He knew he couldn't be imagining it because the look on the two men's faces only confirmed his reality.

Brian Finch was hearing sirens.

The men put him down and began taking to each other in what Brian only heard as mumbles and slurs. He thought about trying to get up and run away, but he knew that even if he could he wouldn't be fast enough to get away. Hell, they'd probably stop him before he even finished getting up, so instead, he simply lay there anticipating some sort of hostage negotiation. But that never happened.

Before Brian knew what was happening he found himself standing, but harshly leaning back against the person with their arm around his neck. He looked down to see Jack laying on his stomach, blood pooling from his head. He was dead. It all happened so fast he hadn't realized Rebecca and her team in front of him nor the fact that one of them had shot their gun. No. All he knew now was that he was being used as a bulletproof vest and he was mere feet away from freedom. Brian realized there was a gun to his head only when Alex pressed it more firmly into his right temple. Brian winced a bit, but the arm around his neck was so tight that it was cutting off most of his airflow, which was little to start with. Brian pulled his still-cuffed hands up to the arm to attempt to loosen it, but that for him nowhere. Brian couldn't breathe as it got tighter and tighter as Alex panicked more and more. Brian slowly began to lose whatever scraps of consciousness he had left. He dropped his arms. His legs became jelly. His body turned into deadweight.

As it became harder and harder for Alex to hold him up he gave a last ditch effort to escape. He let go of Brian who dropped harshly to the ground, and managed to get one shot out before being gunned down himself by the several agents standing before him. Luckily his shot didn't hit anyone.

Rebecca sprinted over to Brian and yelled for the paramedics to follow. Brian opened his eyes to see hers staring into them. He felt her hand on his cheek and knew that this was real, that she was really there. They told his to stay awake. They tried to keep him alert, but Brian didn't care. This time he wouldn't head into the light because there was something good to get back to. He was safe. The past few days were done and gone.

Brian closed his eyes, drifted away into an ever forgiving slumber, and dreamt of home.


End file.
